Over the weekend, Australia's Attorney-General Nicola Roxon spoke about the government's desire for more alternative dispute resolution, pointing to new legislation requiring lawyers to give clients information about alternatives to going to court, and also said that the government was considering changing court fees to "send pricing signals that the courts should not be the first port of call for resolving issues".

Roxon was looking at how the courts charged, to better reflect the costs associated with lengthy, resource-intensive matters.

"Unfortunately, many of us can name too many cases that have dragged on ad nauseam, wasting valuable court resources."

"Both governments and lawyers need to discourage matters dragging out, by giving parties the knowledge and opportunity to take 'legal off ramps' wherever possible. Our changes to court fees will also better reflect the capacity of court users, such as big corporations, to contribute more to the cost of courts," she said.

But the most obvious thing of all is that some companies don't want to compromise or come to sensible solutions. They will rigidly hold onto their point of view, desiring to slash and burn, using the courts to bring as much competitive damage to their rivals as possible — mainly through delay and uncertainty, than from the decision itself.

That's why I don't think that a change in fees will have any effect, despite Roxon being "hopeful that this adjustment will help break the habit for those that rely on the courts as a forum of first resort". It's the problem of a "winner takes all mentality" that won't be stopped by some piddly legal fee hike being introduced. These behemoths have enough money to buy a small country, and they'll shell out for court fees, however exorbitant.

If the government wants to get these disputes out of its courts, it will have to think harder. After all, as Roxon said, "'I'll see you in court,' sounds so much more exciting than, 'I'll see you in alternative dispute resolution'."

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